Passage Two In only two decades Asian Americans have become the fastestgrowing the U. S. minority. As their children began moving up through the nation’s schools, it became clear that a new class of academic achievers was emerging. Their achievements are reflected in the nation’s best universities, where mathematics, science and engineering departments have taken on a decidedly Asian character. This special liking for mathematics and science is partly explained by the fact’ that Asian-American students who began their educations abroad arrived in the U.S. with a solid grounding in mathematics but little or no knowledge of English. They are also influenced by the promise of a good job after college. Asians feel they will be judged more objectively. And the return on the investment in education is more immediate in something like engineering than with an arts degree. Most Asian-American students owe their success to the influence of parents who are deter- mined that their children take full advantage of what the American educational system has to offer. An effective measure of parental attention is homework. Asian parents spend more time with their children than American parents do, and it helps. Many researchers also believe there is something in Asian culture that breeds success, such as ideals that stress family values and emphasize education. Both explanations for academic success worry Asian Americans because of fears that they feed a typical racial image. Many can remember when Chinese, Japanese and Filipino immigrants were the Victims of social isolation. Indeed, it was not until 1952 that laws were laid down giving all Asian immigrants the right to citizenship. What are the major factors that determine the success of Asian Americans()
A solid foundation in basic mathematics and Asian culture
B. Hard work and intelligence
C. Hard help and a limited knowledge of English
D. Asian culture and the American educational system
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Passage Five Auctions (拍卖) are public sales of goods, conducted by an officially approved auctioneer. He asks the crowd assembled in the auction room to make offers, or "bids", for the various items on sale. He encourages buyers to bid higher figures, and finally names the highest bidder as the buyer of goods. This is called "knocking down the goods, for the bidding ends when the auctioneer bangs a small hammer on a table at which he stands, This is often set on a raised platform called a rostrum. The ancient Romans probably invented sales by auction, and the English word comes from the Latin auction, meaning "increase". The Romans usually sold in this way the spoils taken in war; these sales were called "subusta", meaning "under the spear", a spear being stuck in the ground as a signal for a crowd to gather. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries goods were often sold by the candle’, a short candle was lit by the auctioneer; and bids could be made while it stayed alight. An auction is usually advertised beforehand with full particulars of the articles to be sold and where and when they can be viewed by possible buyers. If the advertisement cannot give full details, catalogues are printed, and each group of goods to be sold together, called a "lot", is usually given a number. The auctioneer need not begin with lot 1 and continue in numerical order; be may wait until he registers the fact that certain dealers arc in the room and then pro- duce the lots they are likely to be interested in. The auctioneer’s services are paid for in the form of a percentage of the price the goods are sold for. The auctioneer therefore has a direct interest in pushing up the bidding as high as possible. Practicaly all goods whose qualities vary are sold by auction. Among these are coffee, hider, skins, wool, tea, cocoa, furs, spices, fruit and vegetables and wines. Auction sales are also usual for land and property, antique, furniture, pictures, rare books, old china, and similar works of art. The auction-rooms at Christie’s and Sotheby’s in London and New York are world famous. Auctioned goods are sold ______.
A. for the highest price offered
B. only at fixed prices
C. at a price less than their true value
D. very cheaply
When anyone opens a current account at a bank, he is lending the bank money. He may (1) the repayment of the money at any time, either (2) cash or by drawing a check in favor of another person. (3) , the banker-customer relationship is that of debtor and creditor who is (4) depending on whether the customer’s account is (5) credit or is overdrawn. But, in (6) to that basically simple concept, the bank and its customer (7) a large number of obligations to one another. Many of these obligations can give (8) to problems and complications but a bank customer, unlike, say, a buyer of goods, cannot complain that the law is (9) against him.The bank must (10) its customer’s instructions, and not those of anyone else. (11) , for example, a customer opens an account, he instructs the bank to debit his account only in (12) of checks drawn by himself. He gives the bank (13) of his signature, and there is a very firm rule that the bank has no right or (14) to pay out a customer’s money (15) a check on which its customer’s signature has been (16) It makes no difference that the forgery may have been a very (17) one: the bank must recognize its customer’s signature. For this reason there is no (18) to the customer in the practice, (19) by banks, of printing the customer’s name on his checks. If this (20) Forgery, it is the bank that will lose, not the customer. (254 words) 5()
A. on
B. with
C. in
D. for
Happy Therapy (诊疗)Norman Cousins was a businessman from the United States who often traveled around the world on business. He enjoyed his work and traveling.Then, after returning to the United States from a busy and tiring trip to Russia, Mr. Cousins got sick. Because he had pushed his body to the limit of its strength on the trip, a chemical change began to take place inside him. The material between his bones became weak.In less than one week after his return, he could not stand. Every move that he made was painful. He was not able to sleep at night.The doctors told Mr. Cousins that they did not know how to cure his problems and he might never get over the illness. Mr. Cousins, however, refused to give up hope.Mr. Cousins thought that unhappy thoughts were causing bad chemical changes in his body. He did not want to take medicine to cure himself. Instead, he felt that happy thoughts or laughter might cure his illness.He began to experiment on himself while still in the hospital by watching funny shows on television. Mr. Cousins quickly found that ten minutes of real laughter during the day gave him two hours of pain-free sleep at night.Deciding that the doctors could not help him, Mr. Cousins left the hospital and checked into a hotel room where he could continue his experiments with laughter. For eight days, Mr. Cousins rested in the hotel room watching funny shows on television, reading funny books, and sleeping whenever he felt tired. Within three weeks, he felt well enough to take a vacation to Puerto Rico where he began running on the beach for exercise. Mr. Cousins got sick after returning from()
A. a busy trip to the US.
B. a tiring trip to Russia.
C. a trip around the world.
D. a trip to Puerto Rico.
When anyone opens a current account at a bank, he is lending the bank money. He may (1) the repayment of the money at any time, either (2) cash or by drawing a check in favor of another person. (3) , the banker-customer relationship is that of debtor and creditor who is (4) depending on whether the customer’s account is (5) credit or is overdrawn. But, in (6) to that basically simple concept, the bank and its customer (7) a large number of obligations to one another. Many of these obligations can give (8) to problems and complications but a bank customer, unlike, say, a buyer of goods, cannot complain that the law is (9) against him.The bank must (10) its customer’s instructions, and not those of anyone else. (11) , for example, a customer opens an account, he instructs the bank to debit his account only in (12) of checks drawn by himself. He gives the bank (13) of his signature, and there is a very firm rule that the bank has no right or (14) to pay out a customer’s money (15) a check on which its customer’s signature has been (16) It makes no difference that the forgery may have been a very (17) one: the bank must recognize its customer’s signature. For this reason there is no (18) to the customer in the practice, (19) by banks, of printing the customer’s name on his checks. If this (20) Forgery, it is the bank that will lose, not the customer. (254 words) 19()
A. engaged
B. intended
C. adapted
D. adopted